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Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

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Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#61

Post by simion314 »

anonuser123456 wrote: post #10

iCloud photos is pretty good. I’d say it has a good balance between security and privacy. Probably best in class.

Apple implemented a system where they sent to their server on an insecure protocol information that identified what applications you are opening. This shows everyone how much Apple cares or is capable of implementing privacy.

Emails reveal during the Apple vs Epic trial revealed that Apple store apps were infected, then Apple prepared an email for the users to inform them but Timmy decided that informing the users about possible security or privacy problems is bad for PR. We need to keep reminding or informing people about the reality and not the myth of Apple.

Yes I know you use Apple because Google shit is probably worse but Apple shit is still shit, Apple hypocrisy is still hypocrisy and Apple greed is still greed.

Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#62

Post by simion314 »

robertoandred wrote: post #26
mrathys wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not correct. They are algorithms that detect photos that resemble specific photographs.

“Resemble”, in the same way that a cropped photo resembles the uncropped original.

And in the same way a human resembles a butterfly. didn't you learn from the case where algorithms matched white noise with some copyright material? There are many iPhones and many images in each iPhones, there will be false matches. Add on top of that that the database of hashes is secret, that it can be updated in secret, that the algorithm is secret and the "threshold" is also secret and you have a lot of suspicion from people.

Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#63

Post by technics256 »

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #60

Personally I don't trust anything that I don't self-host. With Hetzner I chose full-metal instead of VPS. I pay €40 for 4 TB (2x4 TB mirrored to be precise) shared among a large number of services, including Minecraft servers for kids. The load is very low and the maintenance is a pleasure. Plus I love tinkering with and learning new things, so this part of mine is fully satisfied. I learned with Hetzner that every 3…

Was looking to do the same. What software do you use to replace things like dropbox/photos etc?

Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#64

Post by whalesalad »

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #60

Personally I don't trust anything that I don't self-host. With Hetzner I chose full-metal instead of VPS. I pay €40 for 4 TB (2x4 TB mirrored to be precise) shared among a large number of services, including Minecraft servers for kids. The load is very low and the maintenance is a pleasure. Plus I love tinkering with and learning new things, so this part of mine is fully satisfied. I learned with Hetzner that every 3…

Hetzner is cool unless you are in the US. Latency sucks across the Atlantic.

Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#65

Post by square_usual »

jcun4128 wrote: post #47
square_usual wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mega and Stingle are the only options I'm aware of that are "truly" private, and every other major cloud storage provider will scan your files for CSAM. The best way forward for truly privacy conscious people would be to roll their own NextCloud instance, because any public service that allows you to store E2EE images will get hunted by the Government for allowing CSAM if they reach any significant userbase. Case in…

Dumb question but would an S3 bucket be scanned by CSAM? Ehh idk seems like a dumb concern/losing battle. My thing is about IP. I picked up this e-ink tablet and it syncs to their cloud service for example. Which you can stop but still... Ahh. Just feels like going in circles, ISP knows your content, VPN, is your device actually secure, etc... Do you have anything to hide anyway. I'm probably just paranoid ha I quest…

> Dumb question but would an S3 bucket be scanned by CSAM?

Maybe, but if you E2EE it can't detect anything, anyway. (Please don't take this as an endorsement of child porn) NextCloud has preliminary E2EE support built in, but not for photos - yet.

Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#66

Post by square_usual »

dotancohen wrote: post #53
square_usual wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No? The scanner only checks for matches against images in NCMEC's database, so you can take as many pictures of your kids as you want, it won't trip the scanner.

Then what precludes the production of _new_ material? I thought that the whole effort was to protect children from future abuse?

NCMEC's database is constantly growing; Facebook reported 20 million instances of it over the past year. Say John Q Pedophile has a collection, and his collection includes a bunch pictures which have been reported elsewhere mixed in with the original stuff he's producing, if you detect those images you have probable cause to bring him into custody without completely infringing on someone else's ability to take pictures of their kids on the beach.

Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#67

Post by hdjjhhvvhga »

technics256 wrote: post #63
hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #60

Personally I don't trust anything that I don't self-host. With Hetzner I chose full-metal instead of VPS. I pay €40 for 4 TB (2x4 TB mirrored to be precise) shared among a large number of services, including Minecraft servers for kids. The load is very low and the maintenance is a pleasure. Plus I love tinkering with and learning new things, so this part of mine is fully satisfied. I learned with Hetzner that every 3…

Was looking to do the same. What software do you use to replace things like dropbox/photos etc?

Previously I was using various projects for these things like Coquelicot as a WeTransfer alternative but practically speaking Nextcloud is so easy to use (and relatively stable now) that I use it for most things that need to be shared with others:

* it's intuitive to use, so people who haven't seen it can quickly download what you send them without having to log in, being tracked and so on.

* password protection and expiry date for shared links come in handy

* superfast search is a boon for me as I have so many files it's probably the most important aspect

* the photos app in Next/ownCloud is underperforming if you have a large number of photos in a folder - the thumbnails seem to be generated each time I open the folder, it's probably a bug.

* when you need to collaborate, it's supereasy to add users and they intuitively know how to do things as they're used to Dropbox etc.

Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#68

Post by eddyg »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #4
robertoandred wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dropbox checks for CSAM too.

Checking for CSAM isn't the issue. The issue is that Apple's system design easily extends to checking all sorts of other things - political dissidents, journalists, etc. Not only that, it commits a felony when it transmits found CSAM to a party other than NCMEC (i.e. Apple itself).

> For the conspiracy to work, it'd need Apple, NCMEC and DOJ working together to pull it off voluntarily and it to never leak. If that's your threat model, OK, but that's a huge conspiracy with enormous risk to all participants.

Worth reading: https://pingthread.com/thread/1424873629003702273

Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#69

Post by eddyg »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #20
robertoandred wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple’s system design does not easily extend to checking vague subject matter. Every step of the process is tied to hashes of specific photographs. And do you seriously think they didn’t check the legality of what they built? Really?

> specific photographs That's the catch. Nothing in the system design prevents them from adding hashes of other types of photographs to that database. > And do you seriously think they didn’t check the legality of what they built? IANAL, but the law clearly states that transmitting CSAM to any party other than NCMEC is a felony. Apple != NCMEC. More info: https://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/929-On..…

There’s nothing in the design sure, because new photo hashes do need to be added. But they will will be CSAM images, as explained here: https://pingthread.com/thread/1424873629003702273

People should really stop using this “conspiracy theory” as a reason for Apple to not scan for CSAM in a privacy-preserving fashion. There are way too many “hot takes” that don’t take into account any legal ramifications of their “what if” scenarios.

Re: Ask HN: What are you using to replace shared iCloud Photos albums?

#70

Post by reacharavindh »

e12e wrote: post #32

I have not found a good option yet, but next on my list is: https://github.com/photoprism/photoprism Doesn't look like it's available as a paid service, unfortunately.

I am also eagerly waiting for Photoprism to hit stability and add people recognition to mostly move away from iCloud. They have an issue that is being worked on since 2018 to add support for people recognition :-)

Hopefully soon!!

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